I can't drive 55

[Modelcar]

......Sooner or later each citizen can make up his or her mind to join the cause of conservation until we somehow get our energy supply under control.  Guess it's up to each and every one of us to help.

Let your conscience be our guide.

55....60...or whatever, it seems we better do something.

[trainfan1221]

I know here in New Jersey they are talking of putting the 65 mph areas back down to 55.  Didn't go over too well.   Will probably mean people will be doing 75 instead of 80 now.

[GP-9_Man11786]

New York State actauly had a great idea (which by the way explains why it didn't get out of the legislature) a few years back. That was to give the power to set speed limits over to DOT. This makes total sense because who knows the roads better than DOT?

[BaltACD]

55 did not work in the 70's

it won't work now!

[chad thomas]

Kinda makes you wonder if the auto manufacturers really are trying to improve mileage

[zardoz]

I love it when I get to travel in Michigan they have 70mph highway speed limits and I get about 30mpg with the cruise control set at that speed in my V8 Ford Sedan

30 mpg with a V8 at 70mph?  Wow! You'd better call the media--you have a miracle car.

 

Or a faulty odometer.

 

Not nessasarily, I had a Olds with a 403 cu.in. big block with tuned headers, a high performance air intake/filter, a TH400 trans and a good highway gear in d the rear-end and my mileage something like this: (keep in mind this is if I kept my foot out of the throttle)

speed - MPG

50 - 35

60 - 32

70 - 27

80 - 22

And that car wieghed 5800 Lbs.

Thats better mileage then my 04 Nissan with a 5 speed gets

I'm impressed--really.  Sure makes my 20mpg (at 65mph) with my '01 4L V6 Explorer look rather pathetic!

[chad thomas]

 

Not nessasarily, I had a Olds with a 403 cu.in. big block with tuned headers, a high performance air intake/filter, a TH400 trans and a good highway gear in d the rear-end and my mileage something like this: (keep in mind this is if I kept my foot out of the throttle)

speed - MPG

50 - 35

60 - 32

70 - 27

80 - 22

And that car wieghed 5800 Lbs.

So, you don't list what MPG you got at 90 or 100.

 

I don't know but here is a guess at some higher speeds

100 - 12

125 - 5

150 - 1

[Murphy Siding]

 

Not nessasarily, I had a Olds with a 403 cu.in. big block with tuned headers, a high performance air intake/filter, a TH400 trans and a good highway gear in d the rear-end and my mileage something like this: (keep in mind this is if I kept my foot out of the throttle)

speed - MPG

50 - 35

60 - 32

70 - 27

80 - 22

And that car wieghed 5800 Lbs.

So, you don't list what MPG you got at 90 or 100.

[chad thomas]

I don't know what the ratio of my Olds was but the shift points in drive with the throttle stuffed were about 60 and 100.

I really miss that car

[Modelcar]

....Chad:

Back in the late 60's...{1968}, I had an Impala SS427 and 3.31 posi. and the vehicle was stock....{and new}, I could figure at best a mpg figure on interstates running roughly 70 mph....17 mpg and it needed hi test fuel.  {But fuel was so much cheaper than}....

I tried to order the car with a 3.08 axle but the order was kicked back and we had to change it to the "lower" ratio which I really didn't want.

I've wondered many times since then why the 3.08 was rejected.  It was a TH400 too.

[Modelcar]

....Back a couple of post that listed running a 2.73 rear end....and perhaps running an overdrive trans. with a 30% OD would then roughly translate into a final drive of:  1.91 to 1 which is a very good "highway gear" for creating MPG.  Again, though...with moderate speed to keep wind Cd's to a min.

[chad thomas]

I love it when I get to travel in Michigan they have 70mph highway speed limits and I get about 30mpg with the cruise control set at that speed in my V8 Ford Sedan

30 mpg with a V8 at 70mph?  Wow! You'd better call the media--you have a miracle car.

 

Or a faulty odometer.

 

Not nessasarily, I had a Olds with a 403 cu.in. big block with tuned headers, a high performance air intake/filter, a TH400 trans and a good highway gear in d the rear-end and my mileage something like this: (keep in mind this is if I kept my foot out of the throttle)

speed - MPG

50 - 35

60 - 32

70 - 27

80 - 22

And that car wieghed 5800 Lbs.

Thats better mileage then my 04 Nissan with a 5 speed gets

[Mr_Ash]

I love it when I get to travel in Michigan they have 70mph highway speed limits and I get about 30mpg with the cruise control set at that speed in my V8 Ford Sedan

30 mpg with a V8 at 70mph?  Wow! You'd better call the media--you have a miracle car.

 

Or a faulty odometer.

Nope, 2.73 rear gear ratio and a few engine mods coupled with a good exhaust system and ofcorse all the basic junk like properly inflated tires and ritualistic fluid changing lol

[Modelcar]

....I'm not going to say what someone else is or is not getting or gets.  I will share my experience with our 4-door sedan, 3.0 L V-6 engine. With no exceptional winds either direction.....32 lbs. of air in tires....and mostly driving our 400 miles to Pennsylvania via interstates....and of course using cruise control set anywhere from 68 to 70....it will run 27 to 30 mpg, using {non leaded reg.}, Vehicle weight:  roughly 3400 lbs. {unloaded}.  It is a med. size sedan.

[zardoz]

I love it when I get to travel in Michigan they have 70mph highway speed limits and I get about 30mpg with the cruise control set at that speed in my V8 Ford Sedan

30 mpg with a V8 at 70mph?  Wow! You'd better call the media--you have a miracle car.

 

Or a faulty odometer.

[Modelcar]

.....That will get some response.

[mammothlacrosse]

i am totally against the speed limit to go down to 55mph. i never drive that speed anyways and i still get good gas mileage. And my stance on drilling is no it wont help us right now at all and it will take years for any sort of production to reach the US in which we will still be complaining about high gas prices anyways. We complained gas when it was $2 back 3-4 years ago and we are begging for those kind of prices now but will never see that again. i hope it keep going up and up and up it get rid of all the SUV/truck and force people to buy a resonable car. I have no sympathy for people who own SUV/truck just to down the street to get a starbucks when they can get off there butts and just walk.

[Norman Saxon]

Isn't it true that back when the State of Montana's speed limit was nothing more than signs that stated "reasonable and prudent", they had fewer accidents per car mile than most states with posted speed limits?

My vote is to eliminate any federal speed limit mandate, and let the states dictate what is a proper speed to accomodate concerns regarding safety and the value of time, and leave concerns over fuel economy to the individual driver.

And for those who chime that "we can't drill our way to energy independence", well.... we can't emasculate ourselves to energy indepedence either.

[Mr_Ash]

I drive 400-500 miles a week (depending on howmany days I work) just to get to and from my job that is about a hour away from where I live

[PigFarmer1]

Who cares really. 55 or 60. What difference is 5 minutes gonna make? If you're worried about being late, leave earlier.

If you're driving 60 miles, you're spot on.  If you're driving 600 miles, it's an hour.  That can be significant.

As for reducing speeds on various modes of transportation, I can just see some egghead in an ivory tower someplace telling the airlines they need to fly below stall speeds...

It's not just truckers.  Those of us who work on system gangs might have to travel 1,500-1,600 miles to get to the job site.  Those people who think lowering the speed limit would be no big deal are people who work close to home.  If folks want to drive 55 they can do so, but they better stay out of the fast lane because I'm either on my way to work or, more importantly, I'm on my way home and I don't want any delays.

 

True, but besides maybe truckers, who drives 600 mile trips on a daliy or weekly basis? Average 15-30 minute commute from home to work or around town wouldn't really be any big differences.

[Mr_Ash]

Speedlimits on the highways around where I live are all 55mph but everyone drives 75-80mph even in the 45mph work zones that seem to almost never have workers in them even with the new 24/7 "Photo Enforcment" nobody seems to care

I love it when I get to travel in Michigan they have 70mph highway speed limits and I get about 30mpg with the cruise control set at that speed in my V8 Ford Sedan

[chad thomas]

Just an observation.....

In the last year I have noticed that most drivers are running the speed limit these days, therefore there seems to  be a lot less passing. I would think that is heping fuel efficency more then lowering the speed limit would ever do.  

[alphas]

Speed limit has always been an urban vs rural issue.   Just like the proposals to use USA oil shale and drill more are.  Most Urbanites have mass transit so they are more apathetic towards increasing oil supplies or high speed limits, most rural residents do not and want drilling done and keep the current limits.   (And most urban residents are likely to have their local news media against drilling and higher speed limits which also influences them).   NOTE: if by "drilling" one also includes the use of oil shale and turning coal into oil, then the USA can indeed "drill" its way out of the current situation for many years to come and can accomplish major results in a reasonable time period--not the 7 to 10 year period that most of the environmentalists keep saying and the media keep quoting. 

The power industry is another matter.  There is no good reason for now building a power plant  that's dependent on oil.    There are many options but the most feasible is modern nuclear--which requires courage on the part of politicians.

If the current polls hold through the election,  this country would have a strictly Urban president (Chicago) and the House run by urban legislators (San Fransico, Baltimore, and Chicago).  The Senate would have a majority leader from what is technically a rural state (Nevada) but Reed is elected by Los Vegas plus what he can gather in the Reno area so there's no indication rural residents would have any inroads with him.    So rural residents can expect even less attention from the Feds then they get now and will suffer the consequences.   

[erikem]

I never understood how the number 55 was arrived at, why not 50, or 60 mph (one of the great mysteries of the past?

During the '74 oil crisis, the Nixon administration proposed setting the speed limit to 50 MPH, then a bunch of truckers complained stating the they were more efficient at 55 than 50. The administration then floated the idea of having the truck limit set at 55, while cars would be limited to 50 - that got shot down in short order.

What may have determined the optimal running at 55 for trucks was that the California speed limit for trucks has been 55 for a l-o-n-g time - remember seeing the 55 MPH signs for trucks and autos with trailer in the early 60's. 

[Red Horse]

I don't know about the lower speed limits saving gas but I do know I'd be seeing a lot less human damage in car wrecks at lower speeds, already our reports reflect that our fatalities are down due to less people driving, last year we had 8% more than this year, so I'm at least seeing one silver lining to this dark gas rate hike.

Now I'm one that will not female dog about having to leave a little earlier for work, hummm, I wonder if this would mean that our ambulances will be mandated by the towns contracts to respond slower....ah I don't think that would be a good idea.

Already because of the sky high prices of diesel (our ambulances guzzle the stuff) we are no longer free to do our errands while at work, no trips to the store, we must bring everything with us for a 24 or 48 hour shift, no more cashing our checks at the local bank while on duty, no more Welfare checks on the elderly villages (the fire dept goes on those first and we are called if there is a need for us, no more lunch breaks down by the public beach....sniffle, I'll miss those bathing suit PR tours....

We show up for work and if we don't have a call we are stuck at the station, when we are coming back from the hospital after dropping a patient off than we can stop at a store only if it is on the way back.

Yup, this gas price hike has taken all the fun out of being an EMT, now it is no more this and no more that, Now we need to walk to the corner pizza place and take a portable radio with us and I've had to walk out on an order that wasn't done cooking because of a call coming in, boy that makes the pizza dudes madder than heck!

Our calls are monitored closely; we use to be able to go out on smoke investigations with the fire department, no more.

Where will this end, what's next, we will only be going out if some one is dieing?

Already my friends are seeing the price of tickets to the auto races going up by 25%, a lot of the local places that use to deliver food for free (the delivery, not the food) have now started charging a "door too door" fee, the longer the distance the higher the delivery charge.

This is getting crazy, I've seen a record number of motor boats for sale all around me and for low money also, people can't afford to drive their cars to work and their boats on the week ends, I've seen more SUVs and big pick ups around my town for sale this summer than I've seen in the last 3 years.

Good God, we are in big trouble, but like I said, the upside is, we are using a few less body bags this summer, oh, and more and more motor bikes are popping up than years before.

OK, I better stop here before I NEED AN AMBULANCE!

Well I must go feed and water my donkey, if I leave for work tonight I'll get there for tomorrow morning; a 22 mile donkey ride is hard on the back though.

Be well and lock those gas caps folks, I see gangs of men with hoses and jugs roaming the streets at night

[andrewjonathon]

TH&B,

1. I completely agree with you about increasing efficiency by timing traffic lights better. Starting and stopping I think suck up a lot more fuel than than the difference between driving 55 mph or 65 mph.

2. However, I disagree with your assessment of roundabouts for several reasons.

First, most intersections in Europe using roundabouts do not intersect at crazy angles. Some may but thats an over generalization. This is not a reason roundabouts can't work here.

Second, one major beauty of roundabouts is they often eliminate need to come to a complete stop since they act as a yield sign rather than a stop sign. In this way they encourage better fuel efficiency. How often do I approach a four-way stop sign seeing nobody is coming but must still come to a complete stop anyway, wearing out my brakes and sucking the fuel as I restart.

Third, they eliminate a lot of traffic congestion. (Note, you'll never sit at a roundabout waiting when no traffic is coming in the other direction like you will at traffic light.) Near my house a roundabout replaced a 4 way stop. Previously, the 4-way stop caused 5 minute back-ups during rush hour each day. The first day of operation of the roundabout and the back-ups disappeared and never returned.

Fourth, roundabouts are much safer then a traffic light or four way stop. If an accident does occur in a roundabout the cars will crash into each other at less than 90 degree angles which has less force. At traffic lights or 4-way stops many accidents happen at 90 degree angles (i.e. car runs a red light) with often catastrophic consequences.

 

[Modelcar]

....I think we would find automobile engines will respond similarly when run in the "sweet spot" bracket too.

Edit:  Must change my statement a bit.  Running an automobile engine in the sweat spot bracket, {in my opinion}, will allow it to do the most work with a given amount of fuel.  Not the most MPG.  That figure will be attained at a lower RPM balancing a reasonable speed with a given load.

[rvos1979]

Gonna chime in here with some truck related info...

The best fuel economy in an 18-wheeler is at or near peak torque in the engines' power curve, which is right around 1250-1300 rpm.  The trick here is to pick the transmission and rear end gears that give you the speed you want in top gear in the sweet spot.  For example, the truck I'm driving now, with a 10-speed trans and 3.55 rear end gears gives me about 58-59mph in the sweet spot.

Oddly enough, the newer trucks with all the new emissions junk are getting less milage than the trucks of a few years ago, my '06 gets about 6.2 mpg average, with varying loads, and the guys with the new emission motors are getting a bit less or the same, as well as spending more time in the shop because the new emissions equipment is not holding up to real world conditions.

Just heard on the trucking radio channel today that legislation has been introduced to raise trailer length to 60 feet, and the gross weight to 97,000lbs.  Apparently the nincompoops that introduced this have never taken a 53-foot trailer and OTR tractor through the small towns of eastern PA.  Let's just say it's a pain......

Randy in Lake Station, IN     

[TH&B]

If they really wanted to help drivers use less fuel they'd figure out how to ease gridlock in the cities. All cars, modern or old get the worst fuel economy when they idle. Maybe by replacing trafic lights with roundabouts or changing signal timing to allow the main roads to keep moving, we could really save some fuel and reduce polution. 

 

Now you're talking, pourly designed roads and poorly timed lights must be one of the biggest fuel consumers and poluters there is.  And right in the city where people need to breath.

 

Timing the traffic lights must be the cheapest most effective way to reduce exhaust pollution.  l have seen good examples, all it takes is that a street planner [wich would be the governemt] cared.  This is one reason that l don't beleive the goverment wants us to save fuel or reduce pollution, and 55 won't achive that.  Timing the lights can work , l have seen it done in places that keep traffic moving well.  lt's very simple.

 

ps; roundabouts don't realy work, it is a solution to  European citys because streets merge at crazy angles.  No reason for a roundabout, or circle if streets meat at 90 degrees.